Method Statement For Project Joshua: S F O C C Survey & Installation Works From HWM TO 12 NM
Method Statement For Project Joshua: S F O C C Survey & Installation Works From HWM TO 12 NM
Method Statement For Project Joshua: S F O C C Survey & Installation Works From HWM TO 12 NM
Route Clearance
Cable Burial
Landing
Crossings engineering
The marine cable route survey is performed to define a cable routing that will maximise cable
survivability for acceptable system and component cost.
The route selected determines cable length and cable design (factors that the cable
manufacturer must understand), and establishes the methods to be followed for cable
deployment. The survey also generates a reference record that supports subsequent
maintenance and repair of the cable.
In water of depths less than 1000m, swath bathymetry, side scan sonar, seismic profiling and
a geotechnical survey will be performed. The nominal corridor to be surveyed is 500m wide,
which allows adjustment of the cable location if unfavourable conditions are found later. The
final installed cable will lie within the survey corridor.
In water of depths greater than 1000m, multibeam bathymetry only will be acquired.
It is common practice to bury the cable to a depth of about 1 meter in the sea bed in shallow
water sections (i.e. between 1000m and 15m of water depth), to protect it from hazards such
as fishing trawls.
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Burial is done only where conditions allow - (e.g. in sandy and muddy sediments). Cable
route survey therefore incorporates burial assessment survey, which tests the mechanical
properties of the seabed along the route. Sediments are investigated by hydroacoustic
means (side scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler), and by intermittent physical samples (grab
samples or cone penetrometer tests).
Where plough burial of the cable is needed, surveys assist in the identification of routes that
avoid hydrothermal vents, seeps, areas of tectonic activity, seamounts, canyons and
dissected terrain, shallow water coral reefs and deep or cold water reefs, all of which are
unfavourable environments in which to attempt to bury cable (i.e. plough burial is not
practicable on these substrates).
Inshore cable route survey (0-15m water depth) is conducted using small boats and divers to
perform visual checks of the seabed and map the ideal route for the cable as it approaches
the shore. The inshore survey is normally conducted along a corridor about 200m wide, in
order to provide flexibility to adjust the cable routing to avoid hazards and minimise threats to
marine habitats.
If necessary the inshore survey may incorporate video footage or mapping of important
ecological zones, habitats and features on the approach to shore, to ensure that they will not
be damaged, or to support planning of mitigating and compensating measures for
unavoidable impacts.
Surveys (in conjunction with desk top studies and local consultations) highlight the existence
of other important coastal and littoral ecological complexes such as sea grass, mangrove
and dune formations, and important features such as marine and coastal conservation areas,
nesting sites and migratory routes.
The studies that precede cable laying serve to lower the probability of ecological impacts,
since in large part they are intended to identify routes for the buried cable that will avoid
seamounts, volcanoes, canyons, vents, seeps, deepwater reefs, carbonate mounds, and
dissected terrain – all areas that present problems for plough deployment, but which also are
often associated with above-average biodiversity and biological value.
Installation Vessels
ASN’s complement of vessels includes 140-meter cable ships, which have been designed as
powerful integrated cable installation vessels.
All vessels conform to MARPOL , including general requirements over the control of waste
oil, engine oil discharges and grey and black waste water discharges; prevention of pollution
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by garbage from ships and prevention of air pollution; and maintain operating procedures for
dealing with incidents such as oil and waste spillages that potentially may threaten the
marine environment. One of the cable ships is accredited by the European Maritime Safety
Agency to perform maritime environmental protection activities.
The vessel does not require the use of its anchors to assist in any of the cable installation
operations – cable laying, ploughing and shore end landings are all performed using dynamic
positioning mode. The installation vessels can produce a high bollard pull (up to 130 tonnes)
for ploughing, which is essential for achievement of target burial depths for submarine cable
systems. Vessels are entirely self-sufficient throughout all cable installation operations.
RC is performed to clear the cable path of obstacles such as out of service (OOS) cables
identified during the cable route survey, as these can be hazardous to both the vessel’s
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installation equipment and the cable itself. RC is only carried out in areas where burial is
deemed necessary. RC excludes all works associated with ordnance, radio-active, or other
hazardous materials.
The Desk Top Study and the Marine Route Survey will establish positions of OOS cables
that may need to be removed from the proposed routes.
OOS cable sections are normally removed so as to clear a 500m corridor either side of the
centreline of the route. The cable ends will be left on the seabed.
RC is conducted using the same high navigational accuracy as used in the main lay
operations. Any recovered cable will be landed for proper disposal at suitably equipped
locations. Recovered repeaters, if any, will also be landed and disposed of according to
standard procedures.
The Vessel will position itself perpendicular and close to the Out Of Service cable
The usual method of RC uses a Deep Trenching Grapnel, lowered from the stern
The vessel moves towards the cable, allowing the fluke of the DTG to penetrate the
seabed and unbury the cable.
The vessel will continue to move until the cable is broken, leaving the two ends on the
seabed.
The vessel will then repeat grapnel runs to retrieve each end individually.
Once on the back deck, a section will be cut from the cable
The Vessel will return the ends to the seabed, leaving a space of 1km though which
the new cable will be installed
The Cable cut is kept onboard and disposed of onshore in the correct manner.
PLGR is carried out only along sections of the route where burial is intended. Undertaken
just before ploughing commences, PLGR is intended to clear the route of obstacles and
debris that could damage or obstruct the plough (rocks, fishing equipment, hawsers, anchor
chain, scrap, etc). One or an array of grapnels is towed along the length of the route to be
ploughed. The vessel moves at a speed that ensures that the grapnel(s) stay in continuous
contact with the seabed. Depth of penetration of the seabed by the grapnel is up to 40-80
cm. The grapnel is connected to the tow rope by means of a length of 30 metres of chain,
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with a similar length of chain following the grapnel; the chain further assists in keeping the
grapnel in contact with the seabed. The forward motion and design of the Grapnels creates a
clear path by hooking any linear obstacle. The grapnels are retrieved to the vessels deck at
least every 20km, or when a large tension is registered by the vessel, as this will indicate that
an unidentified obstacle has been hooked. All retrieved debris are kept on board for further
safe disposal at port.
PLGR excludes all works associated with ordnance, radio-active, or other hazardous
materials.
PLGR operations would normally be carried out by a specially mobilised and fitted out vessel
capable of sustaining good slow speed positional control with good bollard pull capability.
The vessel would have sufficient deck space to mount a simple winch, simple guides and a
stern roller to deploy the grapnel(s) and stow any recovered debris. Alternatively, depending
on operational logistics and on the information obtained from the surveys, the PLGR
operation may be performed by the main lay vessel.
The PLGR vessel navigates along the route using the same position fixing systems as
employed by the main lay vessel – GPS. The route followed by the PLGR is maintained as
close as practicable to the selected ploughing route and is always maintained within the
swathe of the route surveyed during route selection.
As the vessel moves along the route the towing tension is monitored and the grapnel(s) is
recovered if the tension increases indicating that an obstruction has been hooked. As a
matter of routine grapnels are recovered and inspected at minimum intervals of 15km along
the route. Usually a single tow is made along the route but in areas where other marine
activity or debris amounts are high, additional runs may be made.
In water depths exceeding 1000m the cable will be laid on the surface of the sea-bed.
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Cable Laying – plough burial of cable
Plough burial of cable is usually performed in water depths of less than 1000m where the
seabed conditions allow.
As the plough is towed through the seabed its share blade and inclined cutting disk lift a
wedge of substrate. As the plough progresses forwards, this sediment is dropped back into
the trench, emplacing the cable at the bottom of a relatively undisturbed sediment wedge.
Plough share cuts wedge of Wedge displaced; cable Plough passes, wedge
sea bed substrate positioned in trench replaced over cable
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A combination of specialist cable lay software and DGPS control the position of the ship and
plough to achieve accurate cable positioning, using thrusters and propellers and with no
need for anchors.
Plough burial achieves a maximum burial depth of 2m (depending on seabed type). The
width of the trench is 0.2m (the width of the plough share). The plough will not be deployed
in areas where steep or side slopes prevent it, or where the route crosses an in-service cable
or pipeline.
Following plough burial of the cable a ca 4m strip footprint coincident with the passing of the
plough (width of the plough share incision, plus the tracks of the skids and stabilisers),
remains visible for a period that will vary depending on nature of the substrate and local
seabed hydrodynamics and sedimentation.
In certain demanding environments where there is a soft sea bead and/or high intensity
shipping activity that poses an elevated threat to the cable, deep burial requirements may be
stipulated. For example in Singapore port limits, cables must be buried to a depth of 10m in
the seabed. Such deep burial is achievable with specialised jetting and rock cutting
equipment
Where possible cables are brought to shore directly from the main-lay cable ship (where this
is not possible a “separate” shore end is required). Such shore-end operations are usually
completed within one day.
Operational planning
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Preparations for the operation are often made the previous day. Various resources and pre-
requisites are assembled:
Beach access arrangements for heavy plant and Local Authority agreement.
Execution
Prior to the cable landing operation, divers will place a marker buoy at the inner limit of the
cable laid by the Cable Vessel. This marks the start position of the proposed shore end
route. Divers may identify gullies / slopes along the route centre line, through which the
cable can be routed, and will again mark their position(s) using marker buoys.
During the shore end landing operation the Cable Vessel will position itself as close as
reasonably practicable to the first marker buoy.
The laying vessel will approach the shore to the agreed cable launching position, or to the
limit deemed acceptable by the Master and maintain this position by use of its dynamic
positioning technology. Once the vessel has achieve a stable station keeping condition the
cable floated off the stern of the vessel and pulled into the beach using a winch or tractor.
This will enable the cable to be initially aligned as close as possible to the target route
selected by the divers. During the pull-in operation, additional slack cable (approx 10m to
15m) will be pulled inshore of the anchor points installed by the divers.
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Cable being floated ashore viewed from the vessel stern
a hauling line which, is passed around a sheave placed on the beach, and
then returned to the laying vessel which provides the hauling tension itself.
most commonly, a hauling line which is passed around a beach sheave but
which is hauled by means of beach equipment e.g. a tractor hauler.
A heavy excavator will be used as “anchor point” for quadrant. The quadrant will allow the
pulling rope and cable to be pulled along the beach in a 90 degree angle from the direction of
landing. Normal beach pulling will require one excavator to pull the rope attached to the
cable for a distance of 100-200 m along the beach.
Cable/rope will be secured every time the excavator will have to go back to perform a new
pull. These beach pulls will continue until all the required cable is safely landed on the beach.
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The main lay vessel will pay out cable with floats at the same rate/speed as the excavator
performing the beach pulls.
Cable being hauled ashore around a quadrant. The cable ship is seen in the distance.
An area on the beach of approximately 250 x 15 m is needed for beach pulls to bring the
cable end to shore.
Once the cable end has reached its proper position and sufficient cable has been brought
ashore, the cable end will be opened and the fibres tested towards the ship to ensure that
the cable has not suffered any damage during the landing operation.
Once the cable has been secured on the beach it is then positioned in accordance with the
RPL. Whilst the cable is held in position, the floats are removed by the divers so that the
cable is sunk on its correct line. This work is carried-out from the beach towards the ship.
It is essential that a number of support vessels are to hand to recover the severed floats
which should be returned to the laying vessel.
The vessel will now be standing-to a cable end. Care is required at this juncture to ensure
that the vessel does not allow ‘loops’ to form at cable touchdown. To this end the vessel
should not be allowed to ‘wander’ and the vessel should hold a positive lead on the cable.
The vessel will normally hold station at the cable-end until such time as the beach joint is
completed. However, if station keeping circumstances are difficult it is preferable that the
vessel moves a little further off-shore. This will give the vessel more sea-room and, with
increasing water depth, reduce the chances of a variable cable lead.
On completion of the pull-in operation, the cable will be stoppered off to ensure that the slack
cable is secured, prior to cutting off the cable floats and laying the cable down onto the
seabed. By manoeuvring the vessel and controlling the tension of the cable during the lay
down operation the cable can be laid down as close as possible to the optimum route.
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Following completion of cable testing, the vessel will depart and the divers will release the
slack cable from inshore and where necessary move the cable manually, using the slack
cable available, to finalise the position of the cable on the seabed. This process will exploit
natural features on the seabed, such as channels and gullies, to protect the cable and
minimise “suspensions”.
With planned preparation prior to each of the shore ends, controlled lay down during the
shore end landings and post lay utilisation of slack cable, shore ends can be laid close to the
required final position in good conformity with sea bed topography.
Inspection
Once the cable has been sunk into position and the beach joint has been commenced, it is
usual for a diver video inspection of the landing to be carried-out. The inspection is required
to:
Confirm that action was taken, during cable replacement, to avoid small local
suspensions
Record the status of the installation to demonstrate to the System Owners that the
landing has been successfully carried-out (or where corrective work is still required).
Video equipment is required for instant replay as soon as the video tape is available from the
divers.
Precision of cable positioning – expected tolerance for deviation within the 12 nm.
Cable lay and touchdown positioning is normally based on a mathematical model which for
some much more advanced applications may work as a 3 D cable model and use current
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vector information as well from different layers in the water column – within certain depth
ranges.
Very precise cable positioning may be required and achieved in shallow water (within safe air
diving range) in connection with cable landing operations, where divers can normally support
manual cable placement out to around 25 m of water depth.
Based on experience and previous system laid and inspected by ROV, typical positioning
accuracy figures could be summarised as follows:
OALC4 Cable
Specs.pdf
Embedded:
Cables laid across rocky seabed will be protected by the installation of articulated pipe (AP) ,
which is fitted by divers after the cable has been landed. AP is extensively used by the
submarine cable industry to provide cable protection in the near-shore area where burial is
impracticable for environmental or engineering/technical reasons.
AP pipe can be installed with minimal impact to existing marine environmental conditions,
both during installation and in the longer term. AP is readily colonised by marine flora and
fauna. Like the cable, AP is non-toxic and inert in the marine environment, though in certain
situations it may be oxidised by sulphur reducing bacteria.
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The cable with the AP attached will be buried across the beach, both for system security and
environmental and public safety reasons, usually to a depth of 2 meters.
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The cable trench is usually dug with hydraulic digging machinery and the beach will be
reinstated at the end of burial.
Plough burial operations are not normally possible in shallow water of less than 15 meters
depth, due to the size of the plough and the draught of the cable vessels. Consequently,
where such areas have suitable sea-bed characteristics the cable can be buried by other
means.
Various kinds of Shallow Water Burial Tool (SWBT) may be used to accomplish the burial.
The SWBT is a system that employs water jetting to cut trenches of depths of 0.5 m to 1m in
the sea bed, in water up to 20 meters water depth, under the manual control of divers. There
is no instrumentation on the burial tool.
The SWBT is usually connected to a pump on a barge or pontoon on which provides high
pressure pumped water. Using the high pressure water directed as jets through nozzles on a
jetting “sword” the SWBT cuts into the seabed a channel no wider than the sword itself.
Sediment will be generated and dispersed to varying degree depending on the seabed
substrate characteristics.
Where the route of the cable crosses in-service telecom or power cables, oil and gas
pipelines or other seabed installations, it is not possible to plough without interruption.
Buried in-service cables can be located by use of tone detection equipment. If necessary this
may be followed by careful excavation with diver’s jetting/ROV tools to allow verification and
identification.
The plough is raised and lowered either side of the intersection (creating a “plough skip” or
interruption in the ploughed alignment). This may be done 100-500 meters either side of the
intersection, the margin of safety depending on factors like crossing angles, complexity of the
seabed installations, etc.
Alternative means must be used to achieve cable burial at and around crossing points to
avoid any risk of damage to in-situ infrastructure while ensuring that the new cable is also
protected. Divers or ROV then perform the cable burial precisely around the intersection
using jetting or other tools.
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Pipeline crossings may be protected by use of concrete mattressing, “uraduct” (a plastic
sleeving on the cable to reduce friction with pipe casing) or, rarely, by rock dumping.
The International Cable Protection Committee publishes guidelines intended to assist the
cable and pipeline industries to adopt harmonised approach in relation to crossings and ASN
attempts to observe these wherever possible. ICPC Recommendation number 3
recommends the considerations to be borne in mind in relation to crossings of telecom and
power cables.
In the event that it was proposed that a power interconnector be installed across the telecom
cable, in the normal course of events the owners of the crossing power cable would seek a
“no objection” or “agreement to cross” from the owners of the crossed telecom cable.
Normally this process involves provision by the crossing power cable owner of details of the
crossing point location, the physical characteristics of the power cable, details of how the
cable is armoured, buried or otherwise protected and an explanation of the methods by
which the power cable owner proposes to install the power cable at and around the crossing
point. It is usually the case that cable owners can agree quite quickly on a mutually
acceptable crossing engineering solution. In some cases cable owners may seek to achieve
formal legal “crossing agreements” that set out the parties’ respective roles and
responsibilities and define how liabilities may be assigned in the event that damages occur
either at the time of installation or as a result of maintenance and repair works that may take
place on either system during its operational lifetime. (see Appendix One) .
A copy of the “as laid” route map will be made available to the licensing authority following
completion and acceptance by the customer, of the project.
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APPENDIX ONE – CROSSINGS
CROSSING & BURIAL PROCEDURE
This section provides a description of the basic processes to be used for the safe crossing
of existing in-service telecommunications cables. This crossing has been unavoidable, and
is based on ICPC (International Cable Protection Committee) Recommendations, in
particular, ICPC Recommendation #02 - Recommended Routing and Reporting Criteria for
Cables in Proximity to Others. Cable routing was also based on ICPC recommendations, as
well as SEACOM recommendations & requirements.
Detailed position information has now been obtained from a route survey operation,
including bathymetry (MBES), Side Scan Sonar (SSS), Sub-bottom Profiler (SBP), and where
appropriate, magnetometers.
The cable system will be installed from a main lay cable ship (e.g. the CS Ile de Sein), and
the majority of this length will be buried. For the burial operations, a burial depth below
the seabed as listed in Section 3 will be targeted, using a cable plough deployed from the
cable ship. The cable to be installed is from the ASN OALC4 product line, with the specific
cable type XXCXXX.
Main Lay Crossing Procedure
The vessel will simultaneously lay and plough-bury the cable. This is done by pulling the
cable burial plough behind the vessel, along the seabed, and allowing the cable to pass
through the share of the plough. This process allows the cable to be buried below the
seafloor.
In order to avoid damage to any in-service cables or pipelines, the installation plan
includes a plough recovery (PLUP) from the seabed at a safe distance before the identified
crossing location of each crossing. The cable will then be surface laid towards the crossing
point.
After surface laying the new cable over the in-service cable, the subsequent plough re-
launch (PLDN) is located an agreed distance from the crossing point. This installation
method is in keeping with the ICPC guidelines. The highly accurate (GPS) positioning
systems that are used to navigate the main-lay vessel and installation plough provide a
guarantee that all vessel and plough positions are know at all times better than +/- 10m
accuracy, and so the exclusion zone from the crossed cable is sufficient to guarantee the
safety of all cable crossings.
While ICPC guidelines recommend a ±500m “no-plough corridor” at crossings, with modern
navigation systems it is often possible for this to be reduced to ±250m. If the in-service
cable is positively located using modern survey techniques & equipment such as
magnetometers, and it matches the reported database position, with the acceptance of
the cable owner, it is proposed that the PLUP/PLDN positions be reduced to ±250m.
Slack will be installed in the new cable in the surface laid area, to ensure the cable is laid
on the seabed along the agreed corridor.
Depending on cable configurations, no additional protection may be required – e.g. if cable
types are matched as much as possible to the crossed in-service cable (i.e. armour on
armour, as per ICPC Recommendation #2). Additionally, if the crossed cable is buried,
there is no possibility of relative movement of the cables causing abrasion.
The following illustrations show a typical main lay cable crossing procedure:
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Water Level
250 or 500m
Seabed
In-Service Cable
STEP 1: Cable plough buried to PLUP location (250m or 500m away from in service
cable)
Water Level
250m or 500m
Seabed
In-Service Cable
Water Level
Surface Lay
Seabed
In-Service Cable
Water Level
250m or 500m
Surface Lay Surface Lay
Seabed
In-Service Cable
STEP 5: Plough launched at PLDN location (250 or 500m away from existing cable)
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250-500m
Seabed
In-Service Cable
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1. CROSSING INFORMATION
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